Timesuck with Dan Cummins

The Oregon Trail was 2,100 plus mile journey from Independence, Missouri all the way to Oregon City, Oregon. And along this trail and its offshoots, between 1841 and 1869, somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 travelers headed West, motivated by the philosophy of Manifest Destiny and the hope for economic prosperity. The Homestead Act and the Monroe Doctrine also fueled  US westward expansion. The journey to get oneself a 160 acre homestead was not for the faint of heart. Somewhere between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 settlers died along the trail, some from accidents and violent clashes with other settlers or local tribes, and many died from diseases like cholera. Those who made it truly connected the United States from sea to shining sea, and solidified the nation as a new global power. Lot of yip, yip, yaw in today's Suck! Hope you enjoy the journey. Thanks to Bad Magic Patreon supporters, we'll be donating somewhere around $15,600 this month to RAINN - the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network - America's largest anti-sexual violence organization. Call 1-800 656-HOPE if you've been sexually assaulted or to report a sexual assault. The call is confidential. To learn more: https://www.rainn.org/Watch the Suck on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/zeT7n7k0p5IMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/  Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Oh boy. This is an especially weird one. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. In the summer of 1965, John C. Lilly, a medic and neuroscientist, and his assistant Margaret Howe, a young lady who just happened to live nearby, would set up a partially-flooded house on St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, where Margaret would spend nearly twenty-four hours a day with a young bottlenose dolphin named Peter. Where she would have sex with this dolphin. Why? To help it learn English. Why? So that the dolphin could teach Dr. Lilly how to communicate telepathically so he could converse with aliens already controlling his life subconsciously. I told you it was weird. I laughed so much researching today's topic. Hope you find this exceptionally strange bit of history highly entertaining as well. Thanks to Bad Magic Patreon supporters, we'll be donating somewhere around $15,600 this month to RAINN - the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network - America's largest anti-sexual violence organization. Call 1-800 656-HOPE if you've been sexually assaulted or to report a sexual assault. The call is confidential. To learn more: https://www.rainn.org/ Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6XqrFxSGxQ4Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Today we head to The Rock, America's Devil Island - Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. So much prison-related info and history to go over today! I'll share the history of Alcatraz Island - how it was discovered by a Spanish explorer, then went from a lighthouse and US military fort, to a US military prison, to the end of the line for the most unruly prisoners in the United States federal penitentiary system, to a national park. I'll share brief bios on some of its most infamous inmates, like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly, share what a day on The Rock was like, and go over some pretty incredible escape attempts. I personally think at least three inmates - maybe five - actually did escape from America's most inescapable prison. Curious if you'll agree with me. Enjoy and Hail Nimrod! Thanks to Bad Magic Patreon supporters, we'll be donating somewhere around $15,400 this month (exact figure TBD) to RAINN - the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network - America's largest anti-sexual violence organization. Call 1-800 656-HOPE if you've been sexually assaulted or to report a sexual assault. The call is confidential. To learn more: https://www.rainn.org/ Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HL05d-fhKHsMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

William Bonin is a little known serial killer who died via lethal injection in 1996 in San Quentin, after sitting on California's death row for over a decade. Surprising that he isn't more well known considering how shocking his crimes were. He was only active as a serial killer for a year, from May of 1979 to June of 1980, but he would be convicted of fourteen murders. And law enforcement was certain he killed at least another seven victims. All boys and young men. All bound, beaten, sodomized, and strangled. Bill, in his early 30s at the time of the murders, talked his victims into getting into his "death van," a Ford Econoline campervan he customized for rape and murder. He had the windows covered up in the back, and he removed the rear interior handles. And he stashed nylon cords to tie up his victims, plus knives and other torture devices. And he usually didn't work alone. He worked with not one - but four different accomplices during his murder spree. And he was one of three "Freeway Killers" active in the Los Angeles and Orange County area in the 1970s. It's another wild true crime tale on Timesuck today! We donated $15,400 this month to the American Nurses Foundation Coronavirus Response Fund for Nurses. This Covid response fund provides mental health support, direct financial aid, education, evidence-based information, and overall advocacy for nurses. To learn more: https://www.nursingworld.org/foundation/programs/coronavirus-response-fund/ Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Nqt_rfD5u7QMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

I'm guessing you know of the Jehovah's Witnesses. You've heard of them. Maybe you've noticed their "Kingdom Halls." Maybe they've knocked on your door. But - do you really know anything about them? Before this week, I didn't. Now that I do, I will NEVER look at them the same way again. The Jehovah's may not live on a compound, but, in my opinion they are a dangerous doomsday cult. Their continual focus on impending Armageddon has hurt so, so many lives. And so has their "Two Witness Rule." The Governing Body of the Witnesses pressure congregations to not go to the police with criminal accusations, including rape and sexual abuse. Instead, Witnesses are told to take accusations to congregational elders who record the accusations confidentially. And elders are told that if two or more people didn't witness the crime occur, then it essentially didn't happen. These policies have led to the creation of what's believed to be the largest database of pedophiles ever - pedophiles the organization has provided a safe haven. Known predators have even been paired with future victims to go preach the "truth" door-to-door. The truth is, the Jehovah's Witnesses are an incredible unlikable organization. I lay out their history, their beliefs, and their most shameful policies on another Cult! Cult! Cult! edition of Timesuck. We're donating $15,400 this month to the American Nurses Foundation Coronavirus Response Fund for Nurses. This Covid response fund provides mental health support, direct financial aid, education, evidence-based information, and overall advocacy for nurses. To learn more: https://www.nursingworld.org/foundation/programs/coronavirus-response-fund/ Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oJBO7qetpKkMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was but one of the numerous prolific serial killers preying on sex workers in South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s. And then after possibly going to "sleep" during the 1990s, he started killing again in the first decade of the 2000's. The Grim Sleeper preyed almost exclusively on black, female, crack-addicted sex workers in South Central where he lived. South Central was in the midst of a crack epidemic when he got started in 1985 (or possibly 1984), and by the time he was done in 2007, he'd killed at least ten women but likely closer to twenty-five. And one man as well. Today we dig into our first black serial killer, look into racial bias when it comes to media coverage of black killers and black victims, explore the LA 80's crack epidemic, and more, in another true crime edition of Timesuck. Link to unidentified Lonnie Franklin possible murder victims: https://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-grim-sleeper-lapd-pictures-photogallery.htmlWe're donating $15,400 this month to the American Nurses Foundation Coronavirus Response Fund for Nurses. This Covid response fund provides mental health support, direct financial aid, education, and evidence-based information, and overall advocacy for nurses. To learn more: https://www.nursingworld.org/foundation/programs/coronavirus-response-fund/ Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xckEOGL-ZKUMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Robin Williams knew how to make people feel deeply. He could give you a belly laugh - or a cathartic cry. He knew how to entertain you in a way that only he could. He seemingly had so much energy it's like he vibrated around instead of walking like the rest of us. His mind seemed to move so FAST. And then his brilliant mind betrayed him. Or, rather, his mind just wasn't able to defend him from the cruel and degenerative disease of Lewy Body Dementia. With the diagnosis not coming until two years after his death, he had no idea why he was suddenly becoming more and more forgetful, confused, paranoid, and delusional. While he publicly continued making movies and tv shows, he privately suffered. And then on August 11, 2014, at the age of 63, he took his own life. Or, rather, Lew Body Dementia took it. A sad ending. But before that - what a life! From rich kid, to broke student, to struggling comic, to rocketing to fame and fortune with first Mork and Mindy, and then successful standup specials, and then classic films like Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Goodwill Hunting - Williams entertained hundreds of millions of people. And today we examine and celebrate his life - and even critique it a bit - while also learning about the disease that took him from us. We're donating $15,400 this month to the American Nurses Foundation Coronavirus Response Fund for Nurses. This Covid response fund provides mental health support, direct financial aid, education, and evidence-based information, and overall advocacy for nurses. To learn more: https://www.nursingworld.org/foundation/programs/coronavirus-response-fund/ Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/iB0yViCiJVoMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Let's get royal, Meatsacks! Born a minor aristocrat, Diana Spencer grew up to become one of the most famous people of all time. For years, she was the most photographed person in all of England if not the entire world. The tabloids adored her. Why? She appeared to be the real-life version of possibly the most popular fantasy ever - the fabled princess swept up by Prince Charming! But her life was no fairy tale. She suffered mental health issues, was married to a man who never loved her, bullied by royal protocol, and relentlessly hounded by the paparazzi from the time she began to date Prince Charles all the way until her untimely death. Today we learn what it means to be a modern, British royal, how the royalty is a far cry from what it once was in the UK, what Diana's life was really like, and we explore conspiracies around her death in a blue-blood, tabloidy edition, of Timesuck. We're donating $15,000 this month to The Wildland Firefighter Foundation. Go to https://wffoundation.org/ to learn more. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UUXvmvjA9lAMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Oh boy. Did you know that some people think that Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Eminem, some guy named Donald Marshall, and many other celebrities have been cloned? There are conspiracies revolving around underground cloning centers created and run by illuminati global elites who sometimes kill celebrities who don't follow orders and then clone them to keep making music money mostly. Donny and his clones have been busy writing hit songs since before he was five years old. Most of the music you enjoy was written by clones. We look into so much crazy today. We also look into the actual science of cloning and explain what has been done clone-wise, and what's possible. We break down the difference between therapeutic cloning, reproductive cloning, and more. So much cloning! If you don't enjoy this episode, I hope your clone does. We're donating $15,000 this month to The Wildland Firefighter Foundation. Go to https://wffoundation.org/ to learn more. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/79Dha0SHP3MMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Mark Twitchell really wanted to become a serial killer. In 2008, after discovering the Showtime series, Dexter, it had become his latest obsession. The aspiring filmmaker felt like he related to Dexter Morgan, the methodical serial killer so good at continually covering his tracks. Mark thought he was just as clever as Dexter, and would be able to get away with murder just as easily. Boy was he wrong. Mark constantly overrated his abilities. As a filmmaker, as a businessman, as a lover, and as a killer, this compulsive liar would leave a ridiculous amount of evidence behind after his first murder that made it incredibly easy for detectives to catch him. He actually wrote down all the details of his murder in a document on his laptop called SK confessions. As in, "serial killer" confessions. The entertaining tale of probably the dumbest killer we've covered so far, today, on Timesuck. If you know anything regarding the disappearance of five year-old, Fruitland, Idaho boy Michael Joseph Vaughan, please click this link!: https://www.fruitland.org/index.asp?SEC=10B2C17A-DB5A-4256-8B6D-F589F7133F2DIf you know anything about missing Oklahoma native Christian Alexander Stoppel, please call 405 231-2121.We're donating $15,000 this month to The Wildland Firefighter Foundation. Go to https://wffoundation.org/ to learn more. Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_ivbD0Cno0AMerch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.